Good Things Start Small

In the Autumn of 2023 my 3 year old daughter found an acorn which looked to be sprouting. I said we’d plant it to see what would happen.

We duly took it home, found a small pot and some compost and set it on the windowsill in our kitchen.

Day after day for many weeks it appeared as though nothing was going on. It didn’t look to be growing but I decided to give it a little bit of water every so often just in case there was still life in it. 

Sadly as time passed I resigned myself to the fact that it wasn’t going to grow at all.Though I couldn’t quite give up on it. Not just yet.  

Some more days passed and I took a closer look at the acorn. There weren’t any shoots visible but it did seem to be changing. It appeared to be opening up more and the centre of it had turned green. 

At this point I was tempted to dig it up and see what was going on under the surface. Were there roots forming which I couldn’t see? I knew disturbing it at this point wasn’t an option and would only harm its potential growth. I just had to wait, keep watering it and stay patient. 

You’ve probably guessed what happened next. The green colour change was indeed a sign of life and eventually a small shoot did come up out of it. 

From then on there’s been no stopping it!

A recent post I saw on social media drew parallels to the process of our little acorn. It was a photograph of a man sitting at a desk alone in a very small office space. On the wall was written ‘amazon.com’ in rough spray painted letters. 

The man in the photo was Jeff Bezos, now one of the wealthiest people in the world and the image showed him in the uninspiring early days of Amazon. One of the largest corporations on the planet now but back then barely a noticeable start up company. 

There’s a quote in the Bible which says “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin”.

Almost everything we do in life which is valuable starts small. It’s very easy to become impatient when it doesn’t look like anything is growing and for that impatience to lead to discouragement and the temptation to give up.

I imagine Jeff Bezos and his team in the early days of Amazon had several points when, despite their best efforts, it didn’t look like their business was growing. I’m sure that’s been the case for most entrepreneurs and probably all of us in one way or another. 

Perhaps you’ve started writing a book and you’ve got writer’s block in the first chapter. Maybe you’re learning a musical instrument and right now you just can’t get the hang of it. 

We like to see big changes happen now or at the very least today or this week. However it is far easier to track significant growth over a number of years than it is days.

Growth is funny like that. You’ll see it more with the turning of the years but it is actually taking place daily. The acorn I planted was growing, little by little everyday. 

The regular actions I was taking to ensure it had enough water and all that was happening under the surface with the roots developing and the seed opening up set the foundation for the shoots to rise above the surface. Giving our little acorn the best chance to one day become an oak tree.

Quite how we’re going to manage the later stages of its growth I’m not too sure, but that’s beside the point!

I want to take this opportunity to encourage you to keep doing what you’re doing. Keep taking those little incremental steps in whatever endeavour you have before you. Right now it may look like nothing but in time you will see the growth and development which simply will not happen if you stop now. 

In the years to come our little plant will look mighty. For days on end it looked like it was dead.

Take from that what you will. 

By Dave Simpson, Presenter at Cross Rhythms Plymouth

Previous published in the March edition of the Plymouth Chronicle